2017 will be about tax cuts, pay rises, better security and increased support for families, according to Csaba Dömötör, parliamentary state secretary at the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister.

Dömötör also stated that wage increases will help strengthen the middle class and Hungary’s economy as a whole in the long term.

According to MTI, the economy has been on a path of growth for several years and projections show that the growth rate could reach 4 percent taking into account European Union tenders, he said. This is a guarantee for the government’s wage increase and tax cut scheme to continue, he added.

Dömötör cited the cut in the corporate tax rate to 9 percent and the reduction in employer contributions by 5 percentage points as examples of the government’s 2017 efforts to boost the economy. As a result, companies will find it easier to generate funds for paying higher wages, he added.

The VAT on internet services has dropped from 27 percent to 18 percent and the VAT on some basic food stuffs, including milk, poultry and eggs, has dropped to 5 percent, he noted.